No comments about Country Gospel.

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5 comments about Born to Sing.

1. Let me start by saying I've been a fan of Old Time(Classic)Country for some time now.The King of Country George Jones,Willie,Merle,Loretta,Waylon,Johnny,Dolly,etc...
   Well I've only just discovered the very finest female voice in Country in the last six months. How she escaped me for all this time is a wonder. Well, good things do indeed come to those who wait. And Connie Smith certainly was well the wait. I first bought The Essential Connie Smith,and was knocked off my feet by this down home angel. After listening to the twenty songs off The Essential over and over. I knew I had to have more of Connie's music. And the Four CD Box Set Born To Sing most definitely fits the bill. Connie's voice is pure heaven. This is a real Country girl! What a voice. If you love Country music, especially Country of days gone by. You will love this terrific box set. I highly recommend it!



2. This boxed set contains everything Connie recorded from 1964 to 1967. Bear Family sets sometimes include lots of alternate takes, these are limited in this box to two alternative versions of I'll come running and one alternate version of Burning a hole in my mind, although it does include four French language tracks, which are versions of her American country hits. Because this set stops at 1967 and there is no certainty of a sequel, it does not replace your hits collection, although this was Connie's most successful period so a lot of her own hits are here, including Once a day, Ain't had no lovin' and Cincinnati Ohio.

   Of the nine albums whose tracks are included here, the first and third are available separately as a twofer. That twofer was released only a few months before this box. I've already reviewed that, and as I explained, those are Connie's two best albums from this period - but the others are also of a very high standard, but they contain plenty of covers. I enjoy listening to covers but not everybody gets the same pleasure as I do.

   There are some gospel songs, including Wings of a dove, Farther along and When God dips his love in my heart. There are pop songs, including Downtown (Petula), Born a woman (Sandy Posey), The night has a thousand eyes (Bobby Vee) and It's now or never (Elvis). But mostly, there are country songs, many written by Bill Anderson and Dallas Frazier. Among the many country covers here are You ain't woman enough (Loretta Lynn), Ride ride ride (Lynn Anderson) and There goes my everything (Jack Greene, Engelbert Humperdinck and Elvis). Connie also covered Po' folks and I love you drops, both hits for Bill Anderson. Although Bill wrote songs that he allowed others to have hits with, he kept some for himself. Connie loved them so much that she recorded them anyway.

   This is a well-presented set, as anybody familiar with Bear Family would expect. If you are already familiar with Connie's music, you will know what to expect. If not, I recommend that you start with The Essential, which I've also reviewed.




3. Connie Smith has a beautiful voice, but there is much more which makes her voice the best female voice ever recorded, such as a wider vocal range and greater richness than any other female singer, not to mention her own individual sound and super intensity. However, what makes her voice really stand out is that she has a wide range of vocalizations. That makes her voice THRILLING! One never knows what she will sound like when she sings. In at least one song in this collection she sounds extremely like Patsy Cline, and in another one can hear Connie Francis inside her voice. The other CD of Smith's recordings called "Connie Smith & Miss Smith Goes to Nashville" are of her first and third albums, not first and second. This four CD set has the first few years of Smith's album recordings, but not nearly all of her RCA recordings. It consists of about a dozen of her first albums, a little less than one third of all her recordings. It is a shame country music radio is now owned by giant corporations who will only air recordings by young singers. Connie Smith if aired would show up today's singers as rank amateurs. After listening to this collection one can only scream for MORE! PLEASE TURN ALL HER RECORDS INTO CD'S AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!



4. This is a long overdue boxed set on the fine work of Connie Smith. It is a complete catalog of her first 3 years with RCA. I beleive it contains material that has not been previously released. This is definately Connie at her finest. The sound is excellent, and the enclosed booklet has a detailed history of Connies career during this time frame as well as a gold mine of photos. If you are already singing Connies praises, you will treasure this goldmine of music. The clarity of Connies voice, the great songs and music will truly provide lasting enjoyment. If you weren't previously a fan of Connies, you will be after hearing this set. A five star rating is not enough, I give it a 10!



5. For anyone who ever said "I could listen to Connie Smith sing all night," well, here's your chance. Those wonderful obsessives at Bear Family Records have reissued the country great's complete recordings from her heyday in the mid-Sixties, when the singer was tearing up the charts.

   Connie Smith was a housewife with two children when she began her recording career under the patronage of singer/songwriter Bill Anderson. Her first single, "Once A Day," was a smash hit, and for the next three years she was one of Nashville's biggest female stars. Smith had a perfect voice for country music, with the tell-tale "sob" in her voice that made many of her songs almost heartbreakingly beautiful. Most tellingly, Smith was even more admired by her peers than her fans. She walked away from a successful career in the Seventies to raise her children and because she grew increasingly uncomfortable with the nature of the music business.

   Connie Smith fans once had to search far and wide for her RCA recordings, but they have been more accessible in recent times. RCA released a solid one disc "best of" four years ago and her first two albums were reissued in their entirety in 2000. "Born To Sing" is a four CD box and contains everything she recorded for the label. Its a wonderful package, with first-class sound, and which includes Bear Family's usual comprehensive booklet. Although there is a lot of terrific music here, this boxed set is probably best for Smith's hardcore fans; casual fans should probably stick to the single disc compilation. Still, this is a superior package. Its nice to have all of Connie's RCA classics and rarties available, and to see her receive the recognition she deserves.

   Incidentally, Connie Smith is still going strong as of this writing (March 2001). She performs regularly at the Grand Ole Opry, and she recorded a fine CD for Warner Brothers in 1998, produced by her current husband, Marty Stuart

2 comments about Chuck Wagon Gang - Vol. 1-Greatest Hits.

1. Great CD music for the classic Gospel. Genuine songs featuring Jimmie Davis, former Governor of Louisiana. Will lift your spirits. Well worth the cost.



2. This music takes me back to a more simple life in the Ozarks...pure country singing without being drowned-out by instruments.

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5 comments about Twisted Willie.

1. I'm a huge Willie Nelson fan and I love all sorts of music so this was a real treat. I bought it when it came out about a thousand years ago and it was money well spent. When I pull it out of the case, and listen to it, it never disapoints. If you get a chance to pick it up for $5 do it. You won't regret it.
   
   Thanks



2. I am a huge Willie Nelson fan so I bought this cd not knowing what to expect; alternative artists doing Willie Nelson songs, i thought to myself, "What do these artist really know about Willie Nelson besides that fact that everyone has heard on the road again?" Well even if they dont know much about him, they do a good job covering his songs. The cd starts out with this powerful electric guitar riff breaking into a great rendition of Time of the preacher; Johnny Cash on vocals does the song lots of justice. L7 does a good job making Three Days pretty heavy. The rockabilly version of Shotgun Willie is one of the jewels of this disk and Tenderloin does a remarkable job. When Jerry Cantrell preforms I've seen all the world I care to See, you can hear a sencerity in his voice that put you in a mood that Willie must have been in when he wrote the lyrics. One of the original outlaws Waylon Jennings almost makes I never cared for You, his own with his unmistakable voice. Angel flying too close to the Ground is very bizarre and as much as i like Kris Kristofferson, i have never listened to it all the way thru. The worst song, which happens to be a great song by Willie, is Still is still moving to me by Jello Biafra. Just like everything that involves Jello, the band is good, but he has such a horrible voice it makes it unlistenable as his voice sounds like Katherine Hepburns'. All in all this is a good cd and i would recommend giving it a listen.



3. I had this CD when it first came out years ago, and then lost it. I looked everywhere...even online file sharing, and could not find it anywhere. Enter Amazon.com! This is one of the best CD's ever!!! Everyone recognizes Willie's vocal style, but with this album, you really get a feel for his writing style too. This album is out of print and will be very collectable...so buy it while you can! My fav songs: L7, Presidents of the USA, and Jesse Dayton.



4. This is one of the best tribute albums I ever heard. The idea was to make a record with some renegage rock bands covering Willie Nelson songs. For the most part, the idea works very well. They managed to find songs that fit the artists pretty well (mostly using lesser known Willie Nelson songs). Some of my favorites are by L7, Supersuckers, The Presidents of the United States, Jello Biafra and the Reverend Horton Heat. But the real highlights are by elder statesmen Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. Now, Johnny and Waylon may not fit into the "renegade rock band" mold, but when the results are this good, who cares? Anyway, the performances by the two old country outlaws are quite different than what you would expect from the two gentlemen. Cash is accompanied by a feedback drenched guitar on his track, and Jennings is accompanied by just an acoustic guitar. Of course, their vocals are as great as you would expect from these legends. Like I said in the beginning, this is one of the best tribute albums I ever heard.



5. These aren't the most recognizable "Willie Nelson" songs, but the covers are mostly good. Actually I'm pretty impressed with the selection of bands on here. It's as fine as the 1989 "Neil Young" tribute album. Not every one of these are winners, but I really like the covers by "Mark Lanegen", "L7", "Jerry Cantrell", "The Reverend Horton Heat", and of course "Johnny Cash". The only real problem with this disc, like all tributes, is that it just makes you want to hear the real thing, which of course "Willie" is.

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